FIRST MEETING OF GoM ON COMPOSITION SCHEME

Within a week of being set up, the group of ministers (GoM) on making the goods and services tax (GST) composition scheme more attractive held its first meeting on Sunday.

The five-member GoM, under Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has also been tasked to revisit the GST rates for restaurants.

Only 1.55 million businesses out of 9.8 million registered under the GST regime opted for the composition scheme. This led the GST Council to set up the GoM to examine ways of making it more attractive.

Businesses with turnover of up to ~1 crore can opt for the composition scheme and they can pay taxes in the range of 1-5 per cent and file returns quarterly.

The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and consisting of his state counterparts, had on October 7 constituted the GoM, which will submit its report by the end of November.